Tropics, Germs, and Crops: How Endowments Influence Economic Development

NBER Working Paper No. w9106

Number of pages: 53Posted: 16 Aug 2002Last Revised: 12 Oct 2002

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Date Written: August 2002

Abstract

Does economic development depend on geographic endowments like temperate instead of tropical location, the ecological conditions shaping diseases, or an environment good for grains or certain cash crops? Or do these endowments of tropics, germs, and crops affect economic development only through institutions or policies? We test the endowment, institution, and policy views against each other using cross country evidence. We find evidence that tropics, germs, and crops affect development through institutions. We find no evidence that tropics, germs, and crops affect country incomes directly other than through institutions, nor do we find any effect of policies on development once we control for institutions.

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